that same justice system sentenced him to four years in prison. he insists he is innocent and will appeal his conviction. i'm don lemon. see you back here at 7:00 p.m. eastern. good night. you're in "the situation room." furious final push to election day. we're with the candidate as they add new urgency to the campaigns. we're also in the states that could decide who the next president could be. plus, a weapons factory bombed in sudan and why it might be the latest move in a shadow war between israel and iran. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room."

with just a week and a half until the election, the candidate right now are in a dead heat. they've been crisscrossing the country in a mad scramble to make a difference to get out the vote and sway the undecided. the obama campaign is also calling in some of the heavy artillery. that would be the former president, bill clinton of the here is cnn's white house correspondent. >> reporter: for president obama there is no more powerful surrogate than president clinton. something he acknowledged in an interview released thursday. the last time we had healthy broad-based groelth was when he was president and people remember that. so he can say things that people immediately grab on to. that's why clinton stars in campaign ads. >> president obama has a plan to rebuild america from the ground up. >> he headlines fundraisers and rallies. this one last week with bruce

spring teen. they will be visiting florida, ohio and virginia together. >> he has particular appeal in the african-american community and i would guess among suburban women. the kind of folks that are torn. i think bill clinton would be a significant asset for the president. in may clinton undercut the obama campaign's main argument that mitt romney's business experience does not qualify him to lead the country. >> a man who's been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold. >> reporter: and back in 2007 when hilary and barack obama went head to head. >> i mean, when's the last time we elected a president based on one year of service in the senate before he started running. >> reporter: in early twoit,

obama won iowa. >> i'm here and he's not. >> i can't tell who i'm running against sometimes. >> fast forward four years, clinton gave one of the most rousing speeches in support of obama at the convention. >> i want to nominate a man who's cool on the out siside, b who burns for america on the inside. >> reporter: afterward, obama joked about giving the former president a role in his cabinet. somebody tweeted somebody needs to make him secretary of explaining things. although, they didn't use the word things. mitt romney is trying to keep voters focused on the economy telling them he could do better than president obama. jim acosta is traveling with the

romney campaign. >> we've been traveling by bus over the last few days, ohio and iowa, one thing we've heard, he's been debuting this new theme, he is the agent, he is the candidate of big change and the president is just more of what he calls the status quo. one thing we can also report is the romney campaign is right now sort of riding a wave of momentum, some recent polls, not just nationally but across several swing states have shown romney gaining some traction and getting very close to overtaking the president in several key swing states and both nationally. now, the romney campaign did put out a memo earlier in the week throwing cold water on one ohio state poll they took issue with saying it wasn't properly calibrated but they are also at the same time touting a new "washington post" poll showing mitt romney leading the president nationally and doing

very well among independents. at the same time we should p point out that along this tour he has hit a bit of a roadblock. one of his top surrogates, john sununu made some comments when he suggested that colin powell was endorsing the president because of his race. sununu put out a statement saying he believes powell endorsed the president because of his policies. it's not just the tough talk on the campaign trail that we're seeing that is causing things to get a little rocky out here. there is also the prospect of a major storm heading to the east coast. what forecasters have dubbed frankenstorm. it has already caused the romney campaign to reschedule on sunday. no word on when it will be rescheduled. >> thanks very much. cnn's new poll shows a very tight race in the must-win state

of ohio. president obama is at 50% and mitt romney is at 46%. i'm joined now by gloria borger and ryan lizza. thanks, guys. who's got the edge right now and we're getting closer and closer. >> it's hard to say. our head is exploding with all of these polls. but if you look at our -- let's take the state of ohio, which is of course so key to both campaigns. it's hard to see how romney would win the presidency without winning ohio, although they now say they could. although if you look at the internals you see what you've been seeing all along. president obama is up with women about 12 points, mitt romney up with men by 8 points. romney has made some in roads in suburban areas, but in our poll, the president is up with independent voters by about 5

points. what romney needs to keep doing, to get the momentum or to continue a momentum that he had after the first debate is to get those voters out in the suburban areas, married women in particular, that could make the difference for him in the state of ohio, which is so key. but as for overall momentum, we're getting so many polls in every day, you talk to both campaigns and they say their tracking is the best and their tracking shows them on the road to victory. >> ryan, where do you see the edge right now in that contest. >> speaking about the ohio poll quickly, wolf. we now have 35 polls in a row and romney has only led in three out of five. so it's one of the few battleground states where since his breakout first debate performance where he didn't see much momentum, unlike places like north carolina, colorado and virginia where romney's numbers really moved, obama's

small but consistent lead has been incredibly stubborn in ohio. you know, again, this weekend we're seeing this weird divergence. the national polls show it tied, maybe a slight, slight edge for romney in the average of polls. but if you do the state-by-state breakdown, it's a very difficult path for romney to win that electoral college without ohio, wisconsin, iowa, that midwest fortress that obama seems to have. >> when obama made the decision on the bailout that was unpopular and it now may be that that actually saves him in ohio. >> i remember doing reporting on that, and aus ten goolsby gave the pure economic advisory said don't do this. and they said mr. president we campaigned in these states, these people are getting killed

we've got to do this. one of the most important decisions of his presidency. >> if he wints ohio, it's going to be because he bailed out the auto industry. >> yeah. >> there are about 800,000 we estimate, gloria, undecided voters in these few remaining battle ground states. they're all working trying to convince them. what is going to convince them. >> it's really hard to say. when you talk to republicans they tell you that late in the game, where we are, undecided voters will break towards the challenger. that's the karl rove theory. the democrats say not necessarily. maybe some disaffected democrats, but they will come back to the president in the end. so it's very hard is to say what's going to convince them, what's going to make them decide. and also, there is a possibility, wolf, that these undecided voters, some of them may just decide to stay home. if they don't particularly like either of the candidates, they may decide to sit out the

election. >> i want to play a couple of clips, ryan, because the comments in indiana by the republican senatorial candidate, richard mourdock generated a lot of reaction, national fallout. listen to these exchanges. >> i just -- i struggled with it myself for a long time but i came to realize that life is a gift from god and i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that god intended to happen. >> we saw again this week, you don't want a bunch of politicians in washington, most of whom are male, making health care decisions for women. women can make those decisions themselves. >> ryan, usually the presidential contest has ramifications down ballot. but in this particular case, down ballot in a senate race could have ramifications on the

national contest. >> and add to that akin's comment in missouri that may have blown the republican's chance of winning that important senate seat in missouri. and i think these issues break through to the presidential level when they have a clear resonance with the policies of the guys on the top of the ticket. and that's why the obama team has really hammered romney on this. but at the same time voters understand the difference between the senate candidate's views and a presidential candidate's views and romney and mourdock, in the case of abortion rights, in the exception, in the case of rape, romney's position is different than mourdock. and i think the romney campaign has been pretty clear about making that case. >> ryan lizza, thanks so much. by the way he has an excellent article in the new edition "the new yorker."

i also recommend something that gloria is working on this weekend. you've got two programs that are going to be airing. profile of ann romney saturday night, the journey of ann romney and the excellent documentary that you've updated. romney revealed. sunday night 8:00 p.m. eastern. you've been busy. >> yeah, i have. >> with the federal debt on the rise, the powerful ceos reveal what they're willing to help sacrifice to help balance america's books. oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! i'm gonna stand up to her! no you're not. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

that can only come from having someone else pay your mortgage for an entire year... this is what you'll experience if you win the quicken loans skip-a-year mortgage sweepstakes. up to five winners will get to skip a year of mortgage payments... courtesy of quicken loans. enter often at skipayear.com for more chances to experience...this... the skip-a-year mortgage sweepstakes. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze!

email marketing from constant contact reaches people in a place they're checking every day -- their inbox. and it gives you the tools to create custom emails that drive business. it's just one of the ways constant contact can help you grow your small business. sign up for your free trial today at constantcontact.com/try. the presidential campaigns are sparring over a new report over economic growth. the gdp grew at a rate of 2% from july to september. the white house says that's the 13th straight quarter of positive growth and it shows the economy is moving in the right direction. the romney campaign calls the modest increase, quote, discouraging. several factors are weighing in

on the economy with the election around the corner, including the enormous federal debt. lisa sylvester has been taking a look at what's going on. >> you know, something that we are hearing from ceos across the country is that the current u.s. debt level is not sustainable anymore. it's been growing steadily from 5.6 trillion in 2000 to 16 trillion in 2012. business leaders are saying it's time for democrats and republicans to compromise. >> reporter: bringing the bell of the new york stock exchange while sounding the alarm over the nation's growing debt. more than 80 of the country's largest ceos are urging law makers to reach a bipartisan agreement to bring down the nation's debt level. they're pushing the controversialal methods raising tax revenue.

>> there needs to be compromise and compromise not being a dirty word, but rather being synonymous with governing. yes, i recognize my taxes are going up. i haven't developed a table that says i'll be willing to pay this much more if you're willing to cut this much more. who knows where that's going to go. but i would say most companies, most people expect that they're probably going to have to pay more. >> an increasing number of ceos are going on record that they're willing to pay more in taxes to avert the so-called fiscal cliff as part of a comprehensive plan. if congress fails to act by january, it will trigger $600 billion of cuts. businesses not certain of what lies ahead have been reluctant to increase pay rolls. >> we stop hiring externally. as people leave their positions, we don't fill those jobs.

as you look at exapt expenditures, we start to slow down our spending. and you see most companies doing that now because when you run into an uncertain time, you question everything. >> reporter: and colgate is cutting 2300 workers. ford is scaling back its european operations and laying off 4300 people. h.p. is cutting 27,000 employees. former senator al simpson and former chief of staff bowles offered a debt reduction. but the campaign to fix the debt now sees the simpson bowles as a possible blueprint to fix the crisis. >> the political will not so much yet. so we will get behind any plan that both parties, house senate president can work together on and move forward hopefully in a timely manner. >> and we received a statement

from snar simpson who said he and bowles are pleased there is a growing recognition among businesses and the public that something has to be done about the problem and he added that fixing the debt will have americans sacrificing for the good of the country. a weapons factory is bombed in sudan. why it could be the latest example of israel's long reach in a shadow war with iran. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." [ male announcer ] it started long ago.

it's called passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. at unitedhealthcare insurance company, we understand that commitment. so does aarp, serving americans 50 and over for generations. so it's no surprise millions have chosen an aarp dicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it helps cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. to find out more, call today.

snool a thousand miles for many front lines between israel and hamas mysterious explosions level an arms factory in sudan.

did israel destroy weapons long before they could reach gzas? >> there are kagss the israelis may have done that, but if they did, this has a we hadder reach. analysts say this is part of a wider covert war that also involves iran. >> reporter: a series of big explosions overnight in the sudanese capital. what was this facility? >> an explosion occurred in one of the a.m. nugs depots in the military. >> reporter: a weapon making factory. witnesses tell cnn they saw planes above the facility at the time of the incident. one said he saw a plane leading with bright bliets and a secretary plain fired a rocket. the information minister says we think israel did the bombing. cnn cannot independently verify

the claim. there's a chance the sudanese are not telling the truth. the israelis aren't talking. >> translator: i have nothing to say about that. >> how do you interpret that rork? >> the israelis are not denying they were involved in this, so i take that as a kind of a wink, semi--acknowledgement. >> middle east security expert says if they did this, it would be at latest chapter of a war in the shadows between the israel and the u.s. on one side and iran and its allies on the other. >> reporter: analysts believe that iran may have been assist tg in weapons at that factory or smuggling weapons through sudan where they wind up in the hands of the enemy. >> wikileakckileaks one cable s

the weapons flow, the egyptians know that the arms pipeline runs from iran to sudan to egypt. >> it seems pretty clear hamas is continuing to receive arms. not just hamas, these other groups that are involved in shooting rockets at israel. the iranians are trying to get arms from libya to gaza, from sudan to gaza. >> an official at iran's mission, we tried repeatedly but could not get sudanese officials to respond to the claims that their country is working with iran to smuggle weapons to hamas. >> thank you. just a handful of counties could turn some of these states red or blue on election day. we're on the ground in the battle ground states.

humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go.

the wheels of progress haven't been very active lately. but because of business people like you, things are beginning to get rolling. and regions is here to help. making it easier with the expertise and service to keep those wheels turning. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together.

cnn is putting enormous resources into covering the final toss-up states that will decide this presidential election. we have reports from some of those battle ground states right now. first let's go to colorado where a new poll shows president obama and mitt romney are in a dead heat with 48% each.

let's go to miguel marquez. he's been watching what's going on. what are you seeing and hearing? >> reporter: i'm hearing it's very much the same as it's always been here in colorado. people really turn between these two candidates. we're in suburban denver right now to figure out what makes these voters tick. >> this is jefferson county, it's one of the most competitive counties in this state. both campaigns are working this county very hard. it's because as little as 20 or 30,000 votes across the entire state of colorado could paint this state red or blue. that's as little as 1% of the overall votes statewide. >> so this is always the scariest bit of this. >> the first step is always the hardest. >> spencer has run apex adventure trips for two years. >> so this is the office. >> true. >> not a bad office. >> i like it. >> business has grown, starting with four guides, he now has 20.

this year, the company's biggest. 3,000 trips. everything from pa pelg to back country skiing. the business expanded by keeping prices low and taking advantage of people staying close to home. >> what do you hope for the next four years? >> more people we can raise the bar for equal pay. the more that we can feel inclusion in this state. >> while some have weathered the recession well, colorado continues to struggle. the unemployment rate across the state about 8%. here in jefferson county it's about 7.3. just a little better. this is the new restaurant. >> the nunez family, all ten of them, pitching in on a new venture. the draw authentic cuisine. >> how many recipes are in your head. >> i don't know. i could never count them. >> now 74, she's known as grandma.

>> what do you hope to see in the next few years? >> well, i think one of the most important things is the economy to go up a little. >> now the restaurant is run out of a strip mall. soon, a new building, a liquor license, as many as 15 new employees. but this family is still agonizing over which candidate is best for the future. >> what makes this area so competitive? >> as you consider the numbers in terms of how the hispanic population is growing not only here but across the country, we have an important voice. >> latinos, business owners and newer residents ready to deliver colorado's crucial nine electoral votes, they could decide who takes the white house. >> reporter: the president will be back in colorado next week. this time in conservative territory in colorado springs. both campaigns working incredibly hard. like everywhere else in the country, it does seem that it will come down to organization and that ground game and who can

get the vote out. >> colorado clearly critically important. now to another increasingly important presidential battleground. we're talking about the commonwealth of virginia. john king spent some time there talking to people and poll sters. >> if you look at the map miguel is in colorado that's one of the red states the president turned blue. if you lo at the map you see all this red. how did obama win last time? he woven it from all of them right here in fast growing northern virginia. >> reporter: urgency in a place once reliably red. >> this is the republican party in virginia. >> mitt romney's path to the white house runs through virginia and to win it he must run strong within an hour's drive of washington. >> it's all about northern virginia. there have been so many people from the northeast, from democratic areas, that they have

turned a solid red state into a purple state. >> reporter: recent polls show a dead heat. >> if you look at the dozen polls in virginia taken before the first presidential debate on october 3rd, obama was ahead in all 12. if you look at the eight polls taken after the first presidential debate, romney was ahead in 6 out of the 8. and it's now a dead-even tie. >> reporter: to prove its 2008 win was no fluke. it needs to run up the vote if it delivers it can ruin the night before the polls close in the midwest. democratic congressman knows romney's more moderate tone of late is aimed at the suburbs. >> i think there's a trust factor with that. my constituents remember the

republican primaries. >> reporter: the lunchtime visit to harold and cathy's. she says she will vote republican for president as she did last time. >> from the get-go, mr. obama promised so many things that i didn't believe he could do it. and he has proven that he couldn't do it. >> reporter: robert stevens is an independent and a obama 2008 supporter. >> it was something different for the country, something that hadn't happened before, with a black president. so i got caught up in that a little bit. but i think he's a disappointment. >> you don't like what you got but you're not sold on the alternative? >> absolutely not. at this point i don't know who i'm going to vote for. >> reporter: tense final days. in a place long known for historic battle fields.

>> so close like almost all the battleground what happens in the end what happens on the ground. both parties say they've got a much better ground operation than 2008. the republicans say they've knocked on more than a million doors and they say their early voting numbers are improved. the democrats say no way. they will win virginia again because of this 60 plus offices statewide, latino strags up 19%. and under 60% under the age of 30. the democrats hope will put them over the top. romney needs it. the president would like to keep it. >> we're hearing so many of these reports there could be recounts like in 2000. one of candidates could win the popular vote, lose the electoral college vote. there are intriguing possibilities out there. >> you mention 2000. this has happened four times in our history. of course the most recent time was 12 years ago where al gore

actually won in the popular vote. george w. bush became the president of the united states because of 537 votes in florida. again people think the map this year will be more like this. romney will do better in a lot of these states. some people think it's possible romney ekes out a popular win. it's so close it could go the other way too. the president could win the popular vote. is it likely to happen? both campaigns say probably not. because tgs so close it's possible. we've got a lot of lawyers standing by in case of a recount, other morning after question. >> a lot of lawyers are standing by as well. you were in ohio, you spent some quality time in ohio. you saw the poll, likely voters in ohio, 50% for obama, 46 for mitt romney. this is a critically important state we like to say and it's true, no republican has won the

white house without taking ohio. >> no republican has ever won without it. that's a statistical tie. even though that's been the margin of error for months, the president has been ahead in ohio. here's what we're going to watch, over here. the president did well on this area four years ago. the romney campaign thinks the attacks on the coal industry will help him here. this is one state when you look at the male, white vote. if you look in wisconsin, michigan and ohio, this is where the auto bailout plays out. you see the president standing among white males a little bit higher in those states with a piece of the auto industry than other places. and when you look at the electoral map. it is almost impossible for romney to win without that. so he's in play there right now, but slight edge to the president. >> if the president wins ohio, it will be because of the auto industry. >> that's the number you would look at and you would have to say without a doubt, you even see it in iowa, his working

class white men in this area, the president's numbers are a little higher. >> john, thanks so much. john king doing some excellent reporting for us. a second term just -- a second term plan just released two weeks before the election. so why did the obama campaign wait so long? i'll ask the obama campaign senior adviser, david axelrod. ? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there.

to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for ten years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far.

heading into the final week before the election, the romney campaign is accusing the president of being on the defensive and resorting to attacks and insults. >> and david axelrod is joining us now from chicago. he's the senior adviser to

president obama and his re-election campaign. thanks for coming in. a headline, obama scharpens criticism, romney expresses optimism. i'll play you a clip of what romney's been saying. >> he is now resorted to talking about saving characters on sesame street and word games and of course he continues to launch these misdirected attacks at me and he knows they're not accurate and they're not making much progress for him so his campaign gets smaller and smaller focused on smaller and smaller thing. >> they're saying that the president is diminishing the office of the presidency which is pretty strong words. >> well, those are strong words. they don't mean a whole heck of a lot because they don't reflect what's going on out there. i haven't seen governor romney on the trail with us, and he reallily doesn't know perhaps

what the president is saying and doing or perhaps he does and it concerns him. the president is making a strong case for what we need to do to rebuild the middle class in this country and the kind of prescription for a genuinely strong economy and governor romney, he says i represent change. he represents an echo of a failed past. he's offering the same prescriptions that got us into this mess in the first place. big tax cuts for the well think, rolling back rules on wall street and he wants to talk about anything but that. and i understand that because that's a losing formula and now the american people have concluded that so in the 11th hour of the campaign he's out there prat ling on about things that aren't central to people's concerns. >> he is als saying that the new brochure that you guys released, the new economic pay rottism, it's about a 30-page booklet outlining what the president would hope to achieve. what took so long?

why wait until two weeks before the election to release a booklet like this? >> because we're in the last two weeks of the election and there are people out there who are making their final decisions. not a lot. 5% to 10% making final decisions in this race and we wanted them as they made those final decisions to take a very hard look at where we would take the country and where mitt romney would take the country. and it's valuable for them to have this in their hands to make that contrast. all the ideas that are in that are the ones that the president has been campaigning on in this campaign. it's the ideas that he's been working toward as president. and so, you know, it's not that the ideas are new. they've been posted on our website for quite a long time. but we wanted people who are going to vote and were making their last-minute decisions to physically have it in their hand so they could focus on it as they make their final choice.

the romney campaign has what they call a five-point plan but they have nothing underneath it, no plan to revietallize our education system, no plan other than to give the oil companies everything they're asked for including continued subsidies but nothing for new energy. and then of course the biggest whopper is they're going to take care of our deficits when they propose $7 trillion in new spending between tax cuts for the well think and the pentagon spending for which they have no plan to pay. so saying you have a plan for the future doesn't mean you do. what he has is the one-point plan the president has been talking about, which is the same plan that got us into this mess in the first place. >> the main argument they're making, he did it in his opening remarks in the last debate and the closing remarks, is that more people are unemployed, more people are on foot stamps, more people are in poverty right now than they were four years ago,

why re-elect a president who has a dismal record they say like this. >> the reason they're behind in this race, wolf, is because that's been their mantra from the beginning. everybody in this country knows where we were when this president took office and understands that we're in a better place now. we have more work to do. but the last thing we need to do is go back to the tax cuts for the well think, deregulating wall street, taking care of folks at the top. abandoning the middle class. that is essentially the strategy that got us into the mess that we were in the day the president walked in the door. so they're not gaining much traction with that argument. what people are looking for is a vision for how we rebuild this economy, continue this recovery, and strengthen the middle class. and the president has offered specific ideas to do that that are real and credible and achievable. and that's something governor romney has not done. >> david axelrod from the obama campaign. thanks for joining us.

>> all right wolf. good to be with you. it's among the tightest and most contentious contest in the country and it has national implications. we'll get the latest on the wisconsin senate race. wisconsin senate race. stand by.

crest. life opens up when you do.

let's head to the midwest right now and take a closer look at the lay of the political land in wisconsin, another key battleground state. it has ten electoral votes. it went for president obama in 2008. the latest polling shows the president with a six-point lead over romney in wisconsin. the president will be heading to wisconsin this week. it certainly remains a toss-up on the cnn electoral map. there's also a very heated u.s. senate race in wisconsin underway right now. here's cnn's ted rowlands.

>> reporter: on the right, tommy thompson, on the left, tammy baldwin, now 70, he served four terms as wisconsin governor and was george w. bush's secretary of health and human services. she's 50, openly gay and a 14-year veteran of the house of representatives. up for grabs is the senate seat left open by retiring democrat herb cole which republicans desperately want to help them win a majority. >> i'm tommy thompson. >> reporter: both sides are pooring in cash, a state record $40 million has been spent so far on this election. almost three-fourths coming from groups that aren't directly associated with the candidates but are very interested in the outcome. >> you can't turn on your tv right now without running into ads for tammy and tommy. >> reporter: daniel bice has been covering wisconsin politics for more than 20 years. this race he says is all about attacking the opponent. >> she's trying to define

thompson as someone who was a good governor but no longer supports the interests of wisconsin. >> tommy thompson, he's not for you anymore. >> he's trying to define her not as the nice tammy baldwin that you see on tv but as an extreme liberal who votes in a way people in wisconsin would not support. >> too extreme for wisconsin. >> reporter: there have been two debates and the pundits seem to agree each candidate has a win. both have been shown to be ahead at times. >> right now we're at a tied race. it's neck and neck. >> reporter: the marquette numbers show wisconsin is extremely polarized, possibly due in part to the recent bitter gubernatorial recall election. the presidential race is also close here. many believe it will be very difficult for tommy thompson to win if mitt romney doesn't. >> you don't have as many ticket splitters as i think thompson campaign thought you might have had. >> reporter: what you do have is a small percentage of undecideds whose votes will likely

determine the winners and both presidential and senate races. >> ted rowlands reporting for us from wisconsin. donald trump's big announcement backfires this past week. so what was he thinking? cnn's jeanne moos has reaction. with the fidelity stock screener, you can try strategies from independent experts

and see what criteria they use. such as a 5% yield on dividend-paying stocks. then you can customize the strategies and narrow down to exactly those stocks you want to follow. i'm mark allen of fidelity investments. the expert strategies feature is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

donald trump's october surprise turns into an october flop. the reactions have been coming in. cnn's jeanne moos runs through them for us. >> reporter: the donald better duck. >> his bombshell announcement. >> reporter: the bombshell seems to have landed on trump. >> donald trump's a circus act. >> i believe we have the foot anl of the announcement. >> reporter: from a gorilla on jon stewart he was morphed into a donkey, his offer of a check to charity. >> for $5 million. >> reporter: if president obama would release school and passport records reminded the folks at college humor of a certain someone. >> one million dollars. >> reporter: and presto-change-o, donald was dr.

evil. counterproposals some too raunch for the news. >> $1 million actual dollars if you will let me [ bleep ]. >> and i said, hey, don, i'll give you $5 million if you release that thing on your head. [ laughter ] let it go. >> reporter: jimmy kimmel's show the donald ended up playing the great trumpkin in charlie brown's pumpkin patch. >> what's that? >> a check for $5 million. >> huh? >> what the [ bleep ]. >> reporter: the one almost painful to watch, the one that had to hurt the most came from an old friend of donald's. >> i'm going to say it to his face. donald, you're making a fool of yourself. >> reporter: soon donald was tweeting @barbara walters, you just don't get it. he suggested she'd end up apologizing to him. why did you choose me as one of the ten most fascinating people of the year from one top ten to another. >> the number one lame october

surprise donald trump offering $5 million to unearth anyone who still takes him seriously. there you go. >> reporter: but trump insisted. >> the response has been unbelievable. and i've had tremendous praise for the most part. >> reporter: least ann coulter came through. >> i totally love it. it's completely show boating but i support donald trump in this. we need somebody like donald trump on our side. >> reporter: so far the only thing released by president obama was a zinger when leno asked him what's up with you and trump? >> this dates back to when we were growing up together in kenya. [ laughter ] >> reporter: between the president's mockery and barbara's scolding. >> stop it. get off it, donald. >> reporter: get off it before you get taken off. >> and if he gives his passport application -- >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. very funny stuff. remember, you can always follow what's going on in "the situation room" on twitter. you can tweet